


Since Youth

by Nintendraw



Category: Pocket Monsters: Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire | Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Versions, Pocket Monsters: Ruby & Sapphire & Emerald | Pokemon Ruby Sapphire Emerald Versions
Genre: F/M, Literature, Romance, fan fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-05
Updated: 2015-10-05
Packaged: 2019-10-14 11:18:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17507606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nintendraw/pseuds/Nintendraw
Summary: Even as children, you wished he would pay as much attention to you as he did his rocks.





	Since Youth

**Author's Note:**

> My brain forced me out of bed right before what would have been an amazing Steven x Reader story (which, now many years removed, I find slightly sappy), but mercifully, it left some trace of the original story in its wake. I wrote all of this on a whim based on that vestige and based on what I think it must have been like to know Steven as a child. (Seriously though: pretty boy nerd who only wants to talk about stones? He sounds adorable, but he must have been so lonely.)
> 
> This is predominantly set near the endgame of Pokemon ORAS, with the reader starting their Pokemon journey sometime in their teens from Rustboro instead of ~10 at Littleroot.
> 
> Also, the Draconid meteors I reference in this story actually exist. This sets the present-day events of the story at [around October](https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/earthskys-meteor-shower-guide#draconids).

You always used to watch him at recess, all alone playing with the various rocks he’d picked up from somewhere on the blacktop, studying them with his jeweler’s loupe with all the intensity of a microvascular surgeon. It never seemed to matter how many others stared at him and sighed dreamily from afar—hell, you might even have said that his focus intensified with such distractions present, as if aware of the fact that they would only divert him from his destiny. You never let that deter you—where the others eventually, reluctantly gave up on him, you approached him to ask about him and these rocks he loved so much. His passion for the things was reflected in the responses he gave—even if they were more properly monologues, you couldn’t deny that the boy was an engaging speaker, as much as he engaged your eyes with his bearing. No geology professor you’d ever had could explain igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks so well, nor delineate the difference between rocks as close as basalt and obsidian. But Steven could, and his crystal-blue eyes sparkled so wonderfully when he did. That wasn’t to say that he couldn’t talk about anything else—being the president’s son meant that he had to know something about everything, whether or not other kids his age needed to; and his aptitude for such things was unparalleled, if his grades meant anything about it at all.

He was there for every milestone of your young life. Growing up in Rustboro, you couldn’t _not_ see him, for he was always in the camera, ever smiling, ever the darling of the media’s and his father’s eye. He was a significant part of why you decided to become a Trainer; and you and he even started your Pokémon journeys at the same time. Certainly you weren’t disappointed with the Pokémon Professor Birch gave you as thanks for rescuing him on his trip to the then-incomplete Rusturf Tunnel, but it was nothing compared to the Beldum Steven received. The way he spoke of it always used to make you feel jealous, for he’d go on and on about its color and texture and such in such detail that he might as well have been describing a much-beloved pet or even a lover. “Why couldn’t he ever talk about me like that?” you’d wonder. And then you’d scold yourself for such flights of fancy—there was no way _he_ , the to-be heir of the entire Devon Corporation, would ever look twice at you, even if you were a Gym Leader’s daughter.

Perhaps he’d gotten the thing as a gift from his father. Yes, that had to be it. You’d read the professor’s Pokédex entry. There was no way Mr. Stone would let his company’s heir hunt down and capture such an elusive Pokémon all by himself.

You didn’t see much of him personally setting out across Hoenn on your journey, but you always heard little snippets of him on TV. Rustboro, of course, was in an outrage to see him go, and it seemed that every single time you arrived in the Pokémon Center or in the inn of some new city or town to rest yourself and your Pokémon, without fail, some channel somewhere exulted about the latest Steven sighting. Over time, you subconsciously learned which channels did this most, so that even if you weren’t actively looking for him, you always knew approximately where he was. He was always smiling that scintillating smile of his on-air, but even the cameramen could barely get him to talk about anything _other_ than stones—in fact, the scene around them always seemed to be dark and cavelike, as if he spent most of his Pokémon journey sidetracking and the media had had to hunt him down in the midst of some new spelunking trip. The sight made you smile at first, but after too many sightings of the man in what seemed to be the same old settings talking about the same old things, you finally stopped watching.

Given the crazy weather extremists plaguing the world, you could hardly have spared an eye for your seemingly immutable childhood classmate.

It came as a surprise to you to find him sitting there in the Champion’s seat—after all, the man had never seemed overly interested in anything _but_ stones; how in the world could he have turned his gaze aside long enough to defeat all the Gym Leaders _and_ the Elite Four to boot? At such a young age too—but then again, you and he were almost the same in that regard, and here you were, facing him down the way he must have faced the previous Champion down in the not-so-distant past. If it was strange watching him grow up through a TV screen, it was stranger still to see Steven the young man, already 20 and more handsome than before, but still little different from the child you once knew.

As you advanced with wide eyes, you could see his widen too. Oh, he most definitely recognized you, this ghost from his past come to threaten his reign. Or was he just surprised to see another challenger after who knows how long? The thought evoked a strange mix of feelings in you—relief at seeing him again after all these months traipsing across Hoenn, and an instant’s anger that even now, _even now_ , as he began the Champion’s spiel that he _must_ by now be weary of reciting, all he wanted to talk about was those stupid stones of his, without even the tiniest _hint_ of desire for catching up on times bygone. Maybe he didn’t recognize you after all—but you knew him, yes you did, this man who’d stolen your heart so long ago with his passion, his knowledge, his bearing. Try as you might, you couldn’t stay mad at him for talking about what he loved—and truth be told, you hadn’t been trying very hard in the first place.

You really hadn’t meant to sound so curt when you finally cut him off, but after all, you and he both knew exactly why you were here: To battle, and perhaps to win.

It hurt a bit to see the way he dropped his crystal-blue eyes to the ground, but you pressed your lips together, resisting the urge to let him prattle on. Eventually, his eyes came back up again, and when they did, his gaze was intense. “Then let us battle to see which of us truly deserves the title of Champion,” he declared.

Anticipation shot through you at the words. For some reason, it didn’t feel directed towards winning.

It surprised you how strong he was, how well he and his Pokémon worked together. Though they were all Steel-types in some way, shape or form, each covered the weaknesses of the other, and many covered their inherent weaknesses as well. You lost a Pokémon before he did—who would have known that that Aggron could not only learn Thunder Punch, but also survive long enough to knock out the Pokémon that tried to drown it?—but it wasn’t long before he lost a Pokémon too, with the Iron Armor Pokémon as weak as it was after the prior battle. The two of you continued in this manner until by the end, you were each left to your starter Pokémon, the ones you’d begun your journey with. It was down to the wire now. You gazed pensively at your Poké Ball, watched as he thoughtfully raised his to his chin beneath closed eyes. “So this is where we are now,” he observed. “At the end of the line, newcomer and incumbent reunite after far too many months, battling with the Pokémon they bonded with first to decide which of them is the greatest in the land.” He smiled a secret smile. “This is how it should be, as a battle between friends.”

Your heart thrilled at his final word. Somehow, you’d never expected him to see you in that light, let alone admit it aloud.

But business was business—and even if it wasn’t, your lips couldn’t form the beginnings of a response. Mercifully, he rescued you from your stupor with a determined gaze. “Well then, let us begin,” he said. “Go, Metagross!”

He flung his hand out at that precise moment, and the silver sphere he’d been clutching went flying into the air. At the top of the arc, it snapped open and your vision flooded with blinding white light. When it cleared, a gunmetal-blue behemoth stood before you, leveling a crimson glare at you from atop its four legs. So this was Beldum’s final form! Unfazed, you hurled your Poké Ball towards center stage. “Go, Blaziken!” you cried.

Another flash of light and your fiery avian stood before you, bouncing back and forth with upraised fists in anticipation of the battle to come; but Steven was already moving, ever prepared. A bolt of light shot out of his lapel pin where he’d pressed it, enveloping the Metagross in light. When it cleared—what _was_ that thing? It still greatly resembled itself in its original form, but now it was silver where it had been blue, blue where it had been silver, and its claws gleamed with gold. Not to mention that it now had eight legs instead of four and was _floating_. Certainly, the Pokemon could learn Magnet Rise, but this?

“How do you like it?” Steven called across the battlefield to you. “Its rugged white body is so cool to the touch; and when it Mega Evolves, its beauty magnifies beyond words!”

You could only shake your head at his statement. He really _hasn’t_ changed after all this time. But if Mega Evolution is where he wants to take this battle, then you will humor him. A press of the Key Stone, another flash of light, and your Blaziken shrieked defiantly at your opponent, the four tendrils of flame on its wrists sparking where they contacted air.

This battle raged on much longer than the prior ones. Each Pokémon had a type advantage over the other, for while yours was Fire and his was Steel, yours was also Fighting where his was Psychic. Not only that, you didn’t have the speed advantage you thought you would, for Mega Evolution gave his Metagross an edge that even your Mega Evolved Pokémon couldn’t initially match. You were lucky not to have the first Rock Slide knock you out, but nor could your Blaze-augmented Flamethrower take him out. Two Full Restores was all it took to erase that turn from physicality, and onward you battled. His advantage was short-lived, for your Blaziken grew nimbler by the second, such that by the time he called his next move, the Fire Pokémon was already moving to dodge it. Before long, he switched to Psychic moves, but it was too little, too late. A well-timed Fire Punch, and his Metagross’s eyes flickered as it fell slowly to the ground.

For a moment, Steven couldn’t say anything. His eyes were wide with the shock of one who hadn’t tasted defeat in a long time—and knowing him, you wouldn’t have been surprised if _a long time_ meant _never_. After what felt like entirely too much time, he sighed, closed his eyes, and turned away. “So I, the Champion, fall in defeat…”

Your brow furrowed. Something about the way he said those words made him seem… distant. Listless, even. Had losing really affected him that much?

The man lifted his head then, still wearing that strange, lifeless smile. “That was a very good match, (Name),” he commented. “The first I’ve had in a long time. Thank you. And yet…” He lowered his gaze again. “I don’t know what to feel about it. As Champion and heir of Devon, it’s unthinkable that I could lose…”

Your furrow deepened; but before you could even begin to try to say something that would comfort him, he lifted his hand and recalled his Metagross to its Poké Ball. It hadn’t reverted back to its normal form yet; perhaps it would now that it was inside. “Never mind what I think,” he said, in a tone that sounded suspiciously to you like unwilling resignation. “Come with me, (Name). No… I should be calling you Champion now,” he corrected. “It is time we inaugurated the new champion of Hoenn.”

Vexed at the sudden distance you heard in his voice, you followed him through the doors that opened behind him into a long and empty hallway. As the two of you walked together, the lights came on one by one, illuminating just a section of the hall at a time, revealing an enormous mural depicting the entirety of Hoenn. Here and there you saw the towns you’d visited before; in the sky you could see species of Pokémon you’d caught before, and even a few that you hadn’t seen. You turned your head up towards him. (You and he used to be the same height; since when had he gotten so tall?) Were these his memories in this hallowed hall, or a composite from all Trainers?

Though he did not turn his head, he spoke as if aware of your gaze. “It has been a long time since I walked these halls,” Steven commented. “Seeing these pictures makes me nostalgic. Many good memories are painted upon the walls, and yet it doesn’t encompass everything—only the journey we Trainers take to the Elite Four.”

He halted then. Only now did you realize that you had come to the end of the hall. “Come, let us record your victory here for posterity,” he said.

How stiff he sounded now as he placed your Poké Balls on the lonely platform. This wasn’t the Steven you once knew. He was taking all of this harder than you’d expected. The more you looked, the more apparent it became—you almost feel bad for defeating him now. Was the end of this journey supposed to be so bittersweet?

After a moment, he returned your Pokémon to you. “Come. I’ll show you outside.”

As you and Steven ventured back out of the Pokémon League, you couldn’t help but feel as if the building had suddenly tripled in length. Evergrande was built upon an island much longer than it was wide, but somehow the halls hadn’t felt so long when first you entered. Perhaps the adrenaline was finally wearing off, or perhaps it was the hour of the day. There were no windows in this place since even the corridors were enclosed to evoke each Elite Four member’s specific type, and it had been some time past noon when you came.

The goodbye was nothing remarkable either; all you did was shake his hand and turn away. A part of you had wanted to hug him, both because you hadn’t seen him in so long and because he could probably use the comfort, but no tug of your hand indicated that he reciprocated this desire, and so you didn’t.

Only after you had mounted your (Flying Pokémon) and began the trip back to Rustboro did you realize how hard it must have been for him to live carrying the hopes and dreams of a parent, a company, and arguably the world on his shoulders all alone. How unthinkable it must be to falter.

…

It was almost surreal to wake up the next day in your own bed in Rustboro, seeing the cutout Eon twins chasing each other around _your_ chandelier. So strange was it to _not_ wake up in some nondescript room, as you had all last year, that you had to blink several times to be sure of where you were. Defeating the Elite Four felt almost like a dream, and it might almost have remained one had it not been for your mother’s excited yell.

“Oh my goodness, (Name)! Look! You’re on TV!”

With BuzzNav seemingly aware of and reporting on your every move, being on TV almost sounded old hat to you. (Ha, look at how jaded you’ve become.) But then again, BuzzNav never showed a moving picture of you either. Even Gabby and Ty barely displayed you on TV, not that you’d ever cared to ask the reason why. Curious, you wandered out of your room to find yourself on-screen, exiting the Pokémon League with Steven by your side. Before too long, they cut to a shot of the reporter. “So Mr. Stone, how do you feel after having been defeated for the first time in three years?” she asked.

Your jaw dropped. Steven hung on to the championship for three _years_ before you came along?

On screen, Steven gave a little laugh. It was amazing, really, how quickly he could plaster that smile on over his face. This couldn’t have been long after you’d left Evergrande. “To be honest, I’m not quite sure how to feel,” he said. “I haven’t ever really lost before, so it is a bit of a shock to actually have it happen. But this will afford me a little more time to do the things I need to do, such as get back to Devon, so I’m not truly upset.”

Something about his tone sounded a little off to you. Next to stones, Steven’s favorite things in the world were Pokémon. It had to hurt to lose such a lofty position in the Pokémon world after holding onto it for so long. He couldn’t possibly shake it off just like that.

“I need to go find him.”

The words fell out of your mouth before you could even process what you had just said.

Your mother started. “What did you say, dear?” she asked.

“I have to find him.” The words came stronger this time, fortified by your rising sense of conviction. This was something you needed to do. Even if your words couldn’t take away his memory of the loss, it should make him feel a bit better. “Do you know where he is right now, Mom?”

She shook her head. “I heard that Devon is having some in-house event for industry leaders only today, but I don’t know where he is. President Stone made no mention that his son would be in attendance. You might try checking the summer home, but I can’t remember whether it was in Dewford or Mossdeep.”

“I’ll check them both then. Thanks.”

…

Dewford was much closer to Rustboro than Mossdeep, so you decided to check there first. The quaint sea town was an odd choice for a city-goer’s summer home given the location and population, but it wasn’t your place to comment on the possible eccentricities of the Stone family. Either way, you couldn’t find any trace of your old classmate there, even after scouring the place from top to bottom and asking even the youngsters if they’d seen a silver-haired young man in a suit pass by, but there was one more place you wanted to visit before leaving.

Although you’d only been there twice before, the cool air and sepia walls almost welcomed you inside. Granite Cave was the first place you’d seen Steven outside of Rustboro, and if it hadn’t been for the letter his father had given you for him, you wouldn’t even have gone inside. He’d been standing in front of an ancient-looking stone artwork depicting two prehistoric Pokémon at war with each other. Though you hadn’t been able to get many words in edgewise around his monologue about the artwork, he at least knew how to stop himself and get back to business; and the things he’d mentioned about it were things you hadn’t ever heard before. He really was dedicated to learning more about his world; and as always, his passion was infectious. Even then, he’d been a better Trainer than you—Granite Cave used to be a volcano, and once you’d handed off the letter and he’d skimmed over it, he’d thanked you and _flew_ right on out through the crater atop his Skarmory. It hadn’t been that act that stuck with you all these years; rather, it had been his expressed desire to meet again. And meet him again you did, though the next time was so much later that he hadn’t seemed to recognize you at all. Yet as you wandered back and forth in front of the mural, Steven’s words came floating back to you on memory’s wings, every last word he’d uttered about the primal Pokémon and their eternal feud; and you remembered seeing them with your very own eyes, hunting down Rayquaza to stop them from destroying Hoenn. Even after all these years, something about him still drew you in. Maybe his love for minerals was rubbing off on you. Maybe it was just him.

On your umpteenth round of pacing, something glittery caught your eye. Curious, you squinted and bent closer. Your eyes widened—this was a real diamond in the rough you’d found, and a yellow one to boot. Steven would kill to see this.

The blasted thing was nigh on impossible to pry out by hand, but with your Blaziken’s help, you finally wriggled it out. It had to be at least seven carats on its own, excluding the surrounding ore, not to mention how much rarer colored gems were than clear. Even standard diamonds were difficult to find, what with the amount of pressure that went into each and the sheets of rock it took to produce such pressure. This would be a perfect pick-me-up for Steven.

You couldn’t help but give a little laugh as you realized what your brain was thinking. How very like him to know the minutiae of rocks and their formation. He really _was_ rubbing off on you.

You were still smiling as you flew to Mossdeep City and landed next to the Pokémon Center. Though you were certainly no stranger to this island city, you hadn’t ever come here for the reason you were now; but a few inquiries later, you were standing in front of the door to the Devon summer home. Steven’s home. Somehow now that you were here, a part of you didn’t want to knock anymore. What if he wasn’t there? What if you were interrupting him in the middle of something important? What if he was still upset at you?

Yet one thought prevailed above the rest; that thought drove your hand up to rap on the wooden frame. If he was mad at you, then it was your duty and yours alone to make things right.

Many moments of silence passed after your lonely knocks, so many that you feared he wasn’t home—or worse yet, that the damage you’d dealt him by making him lose was irreversible. It didn’t help that the whole city seemed to still then, as if listening intently for the moment he let you in or slammed the door back in your face.

When he finally opened the door, you jumped, and then immediately flushed with embarrassment at the awkward reaction. Confusion flitted across his face for the briefest of moments before he smiled and stood aside in the doorway. “Hello again, Champion,” he greeted. “This is a surprise. Come in; come in. I was just making lunch.”

His words and his smile came more naturally today than yesterday, but hearing him refer to you by your new title instead of your name brought a pang of guilt to your heart. You were the one who took that title away from him after he’d defended it so successfully for so long; and it added an element of _distance_ to what would have otherwise been a friendly hello. Numbly, you sank down into the plush sofa, watching as he bustled about in the kitchen across the way. Somehow, the reality of your new situation hadn’t sunk in yet. Just yesterday, you’d won the highest title of the land, the title that every new Pokémon Trainer dreamed about and that only a few attained. Years after you began your journey, you were now the undisputed champion of Hoenn… and Steven was here cooking lunch like any normal person would.

Funny. You would’ve thought that the president’s son would at least have a personal butler.

Come to think of it, if not for the purple highlights and silver cuffs on his suit, he looked a bit like a butler himself.

You couldn’t suppress a quick burst of laughter at the thought of _Steven_ waiting on people with handkerchief and towel in hand; but when he glanced your way as if drawn to the noise, you hastily schooled your expression into something more neutral. It wouldn’t do to be caught laughing at Devon’s heir, even if you’d grown up with him in Rustboro for over a decade. Soon enough, he seemed to lose interest, and he didn’t glance your way again until he’d finished making the lunch. It wasn’t a simple meal either—while you wouldn’t have expected him to have been raised on anything like the simple soups your mother made, you also hadn’t expected him to know how to make anything that looked as fancy as this. You murmured a thanks to him as he set the food down on the table in front of you; he gave a small nod as he settled down into the chair across from you. He took a sip of tea from his cup, and you followed suit. Chamomile tea with lemon. Somehow, you’d expected a more indescribably exotic flavor.

“It’s been a little while since we last met, (Name),” Steven observed. “What brings you out here to me now?”

 _Everything_ , you wanted to say. Where to begin? There were so many things… Finally, you settled on the one concrete thing you had to show him: the diamond. After a moment of poking around in your bag, you withdrew the smaller bag you’d placed it in and handed it over to him. “Here,” you blurted. “I got this for you the other day, Steven. As an apology for what happened in the Pokémon League the other day.”

Steven had tracked the package with his eyes as you handed it to him. If he’d heard your latest words, he gave them no heed, for he was too busy curiously unwrapping your present. His eyes widened when he unearthed your raw gem. “This is a rare yellow diamond; and so big too!” he exclaimed. “Seven carats, cleaned; it’d be a shame to cut this… Where did you find it?”

Your smile became modest then. As you’d hoped, he liked it—and you’d even gotten the size correct too. “I found it in Granite Cave,” you told him. “You know, the place where we first met.”

“You mean the place we first met, outside Rustboro.”

Your eyes widened. He actually remembered you after all this time?

As if answering your thoughts, he continued. “Yes, I remember you, (Name). How couldn’t I? Growning up, you were the only one other than my father who had the patience to listen to me prattle on about all those rocks I found.” He laughed. “Thank you. It must have been boring for you.”

“No, no; not at all!” you protested. “You were a really engaging speaker even then, and you knew so much too. You know, you really inspired me with all that talk about minerals. I actually caught myself thinking about those things when I found this diamond—about all the time and pressure it must have taken to form, and how it could possibly have made its way to the surface. At least, I think it’s a diamond,” you added hastily. “You’re the expert here, not me. But that day in Granite Cave long ago… Ever since then, I’ve looked at ancient artworks with a new perspective. I’m actually considering taking over from the museum curator in Lilycove someday when I’m older,” you admitted with a laugh of your own. “Maybe I’ll open an earth science exhibit, or maybe a sculpture exhibit. There must be some amazing statues hidden somewhere in Hoenn—and even if not, we could always make them ourselves. Art sometimes, you know?”

Steven laughed again. There it was. He’d smiled too, but this time it felt genuine, completely unlike the way he’d smiled the night before. “Is that so? I’m afraid I have no eye for sculpting. You’d have to teach me—you’ve always been better in that regard than I.” He paused. “Believe it or not, I only really get that way with people I care about. Rambling, I mean. I can only really talk that long about something with people I consider friends, or more. I always have to be careful not to clam up when I speak in front of a stranger or a crowd.”

Steven, shy? Impossible. But it wasn't that tidbit that had your tongue paralyzed now. What was that he’d just said? Could he really…?

Steven simply watched you in your stupor; or maybe he was watching the diamond; you couldn’t really tell in the midst of your daze. Finally, you decided to say _something_ just to break the silence. “I… I was in Dewford earlier today because I thought you might have been there,” you admitted. “When I found this in Granite Cave, I instantly thought about you.” A pause. No response. You decided to continue. “You know, Steven, I’ve been thinking, ever since our battle in the Pokémon League. You’ve never lost before, have you? At anything? I can’t remember seeing you ever getting a failing grade back in school, and you became Champion barely a year after we started our Pokémon journey together. You were always ahead of me in everything,” you added. “Ahead of everyone in our year. It must have come as a shock to you to lose after so long…”

Steven had been studying you intently while you spoke. When you finished, he waved a hand dismissively. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. True, I’d always been raised to solve problems on my own and always do my best, for myself, for my father, and for the company.” He shrugged and smiled. “But a loss is a loss, and I’ve made my peace with it. I’ve been doing some thinking myself, actually,” he added after a pause.

You tilted your head at him curiously, wondering what he would say next, but instead of elaborating, Steven withdrew a jeweler's loupe from some inside pocket on his suit jacket, the same sort he’d carried even as a child, and held it up in front of his eye.

Well, this was awkward. How were you supposed to respond now? “I… see…” you hedged.

Steven, it seemed, wasn’t paying attention to you at all anymore. Having retrieved a ruler from some unseeable place, he picked up the diamond with his free hand and started measuring it through the loupe. “This is an amazing find,” he murmured, as if to himself. “Truly…”

You knew this face of his; you’d seen it many times before in the past. Whenever Steven got his hands on a new stone, it was all he’d have eyes for for hours. By giving him the diamond, you’d effectively made yourself invisible to him. With a sigh, you backed away past the various stone collections on the walls towards the front door. “Um. So yeah. It was nice catching up with you, Steven,” you told him, even though he hadn’t actually told you anything yet that you couldn’t find on BuzzNav. “I just came by today because I wanted to give that to you. I figured you’d like it, and I thought that you might still be feeling down about yesterday.” A pause. “So I’ll, uh, see you in Rustboro later sometime?”

“(Name), wait.”

Even though your hand was already on the door, Steven’s words made you pause. Slowly, you turned back towards him, eyes questioning.

He’d averted his gaze from the stone you’d given him. That came as a complete surprise. He never turned his eyes away from a new specimen. “Really, it was nice having you visit me here. Normally, I come here to have a place to think to myself, but it does get lonely sometimes. Thank you.” He smiled lightly at you. “Can I get you to visit me at the space center tomorrow evening?” he asked, almost hopefully. “There’s a meteor shower tomorrow just after sunset, but there’s another something I want to give you later.”

Something about his tone made you smile back at him. Maybe it was because it reminded you of the Steven you had grown up with; or maybe it was relief that he wasn’t cross with you for ruining what could very well have been a perfect win streak. Perhaps it was simply how perfect he looked to you, no matter what he did. “Of course, Steven,” you answered. “I’ll be there.”

…

You arrived at the Mossdeep Space Center shortly before sunset, exactly as Steven had asked you to. Just wandering through the place brought back memories. As you passed by the life-sized cutout astronauts display, a sudden image of you and Steven from years past appeared in your mind’s eye. The two of you had been laughing then, striking silly poses behind the cutouts that your parents’ cameras would never see. Even after all these years, there was still a certain energy to the space center that made it as enthralling to you as an adult as it had to you as a child.

Before long, you found Steven approaching you with a smile. He was semi-flanked by a pair of adoring female museum-workers (it seemed that no matter where he went, he always turned eyes), but when he shooed them away, they obliged, albeit not without a couple baleful pouts aimed in your direction. Steven ignored them and instead turned to you. “Thank you for coming,” he said. Eyes smiling, he crooked a finger at you. “Come on. I’ve got the perfect spot for watching meteors tonight. The Draconid meteors are supposed to be falling today. Those ones are high up in the sky, like the midday sun, so we’ll have to sit somewhere special to see them.”

Having never seen a meteor shower before, all this sounded incredibly exciting, even more so than you had imagined. Eagerly, you followed the man inside the swinging doors towards the viewing zone.

…

The meteor showers were very different from you had expected. In ways, they resembled comets, but comets didn’t look red, nor did they usually travel in groups. When all of a sudden the entire sky erupted into light, Steven remarked that the Draconids “had finally woken up”. Him and that encyclopedic knowledge of his—most likely, he’d read the information years ago and was recalling it now for your sake.

You hadn’t meant to fall asleep partway through the display, but the next thing you saw when you opened your eyes was Steven’s velvet-covered lap. How embarrassing! But when you bolted upright to resume a more proper sitting position, he restrained you with a hand on your collar bone that must have snaked its way there while you were dozing. “Please, (Name),” he murmured. “You really don’t have to get up.”

How could that be? He’d invited you here to see this show with him, and here you were, sleeping through it like you didn’t even care! Guiltily, you tried again to straighten up, but the hand around your back stood firm and unyielding; and eventually, you simply gave up and relaxed into his embrace. Steven’s body was so warm to the touch on this brisk night; and there was a certain _magic_ about sitting here atop the space center dome with him, watching the stars dance through the sky and leaving shining trails in their wake. Not even the space center could match this splendor; or perhaps it was Steven’s presence that made it so.

There were two halves of the Draconid meteors falling tonight, and as you leaned in closer, you could almost see them dancing together as if in a tango, just as you’d dreamed you’d do one day with Steven at your side.

…

This time when you woke up, there was a simple but elegant off-white vaulted ceiling there above your head. This didn’t look like any of the inns you’d stayed at during your journey. Where was this place? As you sat upright, trying to get your bearings, your eye fell upon the dozens of filled glass boxes neatly lining the wall, traced them towards a familiar silver-headed man in the kitchen with his back turned towards you. You froze. Had you fallen asleep twice in one night; and had Steven carried you back to his house after the second time?

You didn’t belong here, not like this. This was _not_ how you wanted to reunite with a friend, and especially not him.

You tried to get up from the bed and move towards the door as silently as possible, but Steven must have heard the floorboards creak, for he caught you leaving before you could even make it halfway. “Good morning, (Name),” he said. “Sleep well?”

“Uh… Y – Yeah…”

Ugh, why was it so awkward talking to him like this? Why did you always have to mess up in front of _him_? You lowered your head towards the ground apologetically. “I’m sorry for falling asleep on you yesterday, Steven,” you mumbled to the floor. “That was rude of me. And after you invited me here too…”

He’d turned around then; you couldn’t help but notice the pattern on the apron dusting the floor before his feet. Beldums and Arons. Of course.

“Don’t worry about it, (Name),” he replied. Without looking up, you could practically see him wave your apology away. “That wasn’t the main reason why I brought you here yesterday anyway, though it certainly helped. You’ve never seen a meteor shower before, right?”

“Yes, that’s right…”

Cautiously, you lifted your gaze from the ground to see him staring intently at you again. “(Name), I had the techs at Devon working on your diamond all day yesterday, before and after you came,” he said. “And yes, that’s exactly what it was. Two days ago, I’d been thinking… We’ve known each other for a long time, haven’t we. Even after we went our separate ways, you were never very far from my mind, even if I saw you on TV instead of actually in front of me. And even after you defeated me to become the strongest Trainer in the land, you still came back to find me and talk to me—and without asking my father for my whereabouts, too. That must have been difficult.” He paused. “No one’s ever really cared about me like that—everyone looks at me as just the president’s son, or as the champion of Hoenn. Which I am—or was, in the latter case—but no one ever really looks at me like I’m a _person_. Even if they do, it always seems… superficial… to me. Fake. You never did that to me. You always cared. Even now, you still care.” He raised a hand towards his chin almost ponderingly, but dropped it after a moment. “Losing to you was the best thing that ever happened to me because that let me think about what really matters to me.”

You had half an idea where he might be taking this conversation, but you decided not to say anything and simply let him continue. There was no guarantee that you were right, anyway—more than likely, your brain was coasting on some strange tangent; and given his behavior yesterday when you’d first given him the diamond, you wouldn’t have been surprised if right here, right now in this room, he snagged another rock from some new pocket in his jacket or apron and started talking about it instead. So his next words came as a total surprise to you, as did his actions.

“(Name)… Will you marry me?”

Startled, you blinked your eyes back over to him. Though he hadn’t ditched the apron, he had lowered himself to one knee, and in his hands, he held a familiarly-shaped box. One deft twist of the lid, and you could see a ring inside, silver and elegant and set with a sparkling yellow stone. Could it be…?

“Yes, it’s the diamond you found the other day,” he confirmed. Once again, he’d answered your questions before you could even say them aloud. “You have a good eye, (Name). I’m glad I’ve rubbed off on you somehow. Even though you knew how much this was worth, you gave it to me because you knew how much I love these things. Now I’m giving it back to you, because I’ve found something even more important to me than all the rare minerals in the world. You.”

Reaching forward, Steven gently plucked the ring from its case and held it before your ring finger. The smile on his face reached his eyes, filled them; you drank in the sight as eagerly as if it were a gift from the heavens above. “So will you do it?” he asked again gently. “Will you marry me?”

This was like a dream come true. All these years, you’d never thought it possible. He was perfect, and you were average. He was the wealthiest man in all of Hoenn, and you were just a humble Gym Leader’s daughter. You’d almost convinced yourself that there was someone out there more qualified to stand at his side forever—yet here he was, in the flesh, asking you to do just that.

It didn’t take long for you to formulate a response. “I do,” you told him. Wait a minute; that wasn’t grammatically correct. “I will,” you amended. That didn’t sound right either. You threw your free hand up in the air in mock exasperation. “I… You know what I mean, Steven,” you declared. “Yes. I want to stand by you forever, as long as you’ll have me.”

He’d slipped the ring onto your finger while you corrected yourself; when you flung your hands up, he laughed gaily and, wrapping his arms around you, lifted you and swung you around by the waist. “ _Thank you_ ,” he whispered into your hair. “You have no idea how nervous I was, not knowing whether or not you would say that. When you came looking for me after our final match, that’s when I knew. Maybe I’ve known ever since we were children that you would be the one. And I will never forget a day we spend together. Not before, not now, not ever—because now I know that you are more important to me than all the diamonds or Steel-types in the world… 

“And finally, you are mine.”


End file.
